A map of some mine remains at the Tonopah-Belmont Mine

A map of the Morning Star mine

A map showing the overall 'junction'of the Belmont Mountain Trail

Almost immediately after leaving Schultz Tank, the trail begins to descend and enters the area burned in the 2010 Schultz Fire. Stay straight at 6.0 miles where a gas pipeline access road goes both ways. The dirt road weaves in and out of healthy forest in the burned area. The trail levels out around 7 miles. After 7.3 miles, the trail enters a two mile stretch of heavily burned forest. While this is a maintained road, post-fire landscapes are susceptible to flooding, trail washouts, and falling trees. Always keep an eye out for potential hazards. Around 10 miles, you are back in healthy forest as the trail continues to gently climb and descend as you approach the end. At 11.3 miles, you’ll cross over a fire break and turn left where you can hear Highway 89 off to the right. Stay right along the fire break at 11.6 miles where another road continues straight. The trail gently twists and turns before coming to an intersection with F.R. 552 at 13.2 miles. There is some nice camping/staging off to the left of this intersection. Continue to the right down the gravel road 0.6 miles to get back to Highway 89. Continuing straight on 552 will take you to Lockett Meadow.

Summary/Trail Ratings: This trail, one-way is just under 14 miles. 28 if you make it a roundtrip. Allow for 1-2 hours to complete the trail with stops. You can easily extend your day by exploring the numerous other forest roads in the area or hiking the many trails around Schultz Pass. This trail isn’t difficult and remains gravel all the way so we’ve rated it a ‘2’ out of 10. It will have washboards and occasional ruts but this is your typical “forest road”. Passenger cars will make the trip although in inclement weather something with high clearance is recommended. The Forest Service MVUM says this road is open all year, however after heavy snows, many vehicles won’t be able to make this trip. Also, this trail is only open to street legal vehicles.

Belmont Mountain Ride (easy)

The Belmont Mountain Trail begins just past the Central Arizona Project. The most easy way to get there is by exiting on 379th ave and turning left onto Indian School road. After this turn right onto 387 ave and than left onto northern. Once at Northern, continue on it until you get to 395th where you will make a right turn. Stay left as 395th crosses over the CAP. To the right lies a nice staging spot. Once unloaded begin riding north. You will come to three 'T's. Take a right at the first, left at the second and a right at the third. This will lead you right to Belmont Mountain. As you approach you can see foundations of mining buildings that once stood there. After this you come to a clearing. Going left then left again leads you to the main entrance of the mine. Going left and then right takes you around the backside of Belmont Mountain and the vertical shaft of the Tonopah-Belmont Mountain. Going right takes you to some more foundations and left takes you to Vulture Mine road (where the Morning Star mine is). Trip should me a good exploration and is up to the rider to decide which way to take. There are so many different trails and all of them are fun but short. We did everything but go north on Vulture Mine Road. *By taking Vulture Mine South, it takes you back to the staging spot.

On a scenic ride through the Coconino National Forest, climb to the 8,088’ Schultz Pass just outside of Flagstaff. As you descend, you’ll have nice views of the San Francisco Peaks to your left as you pass through extensive fire damage from the Schultz Fire before ending at Highway 89 near Lockett Meadow.

How to get there: From downtown Flagstaff, head west on Historic Route 66. Follow Highway 180 north for 2.6 miles to Schultz Pass Road. Continue half a mile down the paved road to a fork. Parking/staging is available at the fork where Schultz Pass Trail goes left and Mount Elden Trail goes right.

The trail: From the fork on Schultz Pass Road, continue to the left and north past the parking area. The road becomes gravel as you pass several houses – be courteous. The trail is referred to as both Schultz Pass Road and F.R. 420 on maps. The trail heads north as it climbs rapidly towards Schultz Pass. The trail narrows after 2.2 miles as it begins to winds along a creek. At 4.3 miles, the trail makes a hard right as you leave the creek and near the top. The trail loops back to the left and reaches the 8,088’ Schultz Pass at 4.6 miles. There is a parking area just down the trail on the right which offers hiking access to Schultz Tank. Off to the right at 5.0 miles is a more developed parking area with bathrooms. Numerous hiking trails leave from this area including the Weatherford Trail, the Kachina Trail, and access to the Kachina Peaks Wilderness.